Yahoo released a mobile white paper called “Mobile Internet – Delivering on the Promise of Mobile Advertising.” It’s part one of a series. There’s a great deal of mobile consumer data in the document. The report covers multi-screen usage (TV + mobile) and tablets in addition to laying out some general mobile consumer behavior numbers and trends.
Citing third party data the report asserts that by the end of 2011 there will be 126 million mobile Internet users. Currently there are more than 90 million in the US according to Nielsen. I would estimate that at the end of 2011 mobile Internet users will number closer to 150 million.
Yahoo cites survey data that shows about 50% of consumers claim they purchase an item after researching it on mobile, while “90% of mobile owners access the web from the retail store floor.” Google has slightly different numbers but they’re broadly consistent (79% of smartphone owners use their phones while shopping and 74% purchased something as a result).
Yahoo also identifies mobile Internet usage patterns, which appear to be largely parallel during week days and on the weekend. Google and others have argued that PC and mobile usage patterns are complementary.
Here’s Google’s data about PC and mobile Internet “daypart” usage (via Efficient Frontier). It shows a slightly different pattern than the Yahoo data above.
Mobile Internet use is high in the home, as well as on the go. Yahoo said that 89% of mobile users access the mobile Internet at home. In addition, “86% of mobile Internet users surf the Web while watching TV, often searching for information on advertised products.”
Mobile devices thus need to be thought about by marketers and publishers in a more holistic sense. Consumers are using them in the home and in conjunction with other media. This media mutlitaksing was previously done via laptop in front of the TV. I would imagine laptops are quickly being replaced by smartphones and tablets.
Finally Yahoo says that when online and mobile advertising are combined there’s a significant lift. This is the same argument that has been made about search and display: “1 + 1 = 3.” In addition, in terms of effectiveness Yahoo cites case studies that show significant mobile performance gains over PC:
- Click-through rates on a mobile web movie campaign were 30x higher than the PC counterpart
- Recall scored 15% higher among users who viewed a mobile ad than any other channel
